Evert avenges tennis loss

Press, 6 October 1987, Page 60

Evert avenges tennis loss

NZPA-Reuter New Orleans The top seed, Chris Evert, avenged last month’s U.S. Open quarter-final loss to Lori McNeil by defeating the third seed, 6-3 7-5, in an all-American final at the SUSISO,OOO New Orleans tennis tournament yesterday. Evert, who received 5U530.500 dollars for her efforts, defeated the 23-year-old McNeil by abandoning her patented baseline game and attacking the net and successfully

mixing up lobs and volleys at Lakefront Arena. Evert fought off two break points in the eighth game to go up 5-3 then drilled two forehand winners to break McNeil and take the first set. "In a pressure point, she’d rather be at the net and volleying than having me at the net trying to pass,” said the 32-year-old Evert, explaining her strategy. “I tried to hit real hard right down the middle when she came |n. I tried to lob, I tried to

pass, I was just trying to mix it up.” Evert’s mixture paid off in the tight second set McNeil, getting to the net quicker, broke Evert with a backhand volley in the second game. But Evert responded by coming in behind McNeil’s soft backhands and broke back when she fired a forehand down the middle that bounced off the third seed’s racket and dropped to her. feet Evert,' f whose lunging forehand drop shot in the fourth . game brought a

loud ovation from the 6784 fans, had a chance to serve out the match when she again broke McNeil for 5-3. But McNeil broke back and held serve to level the set “At 5-5 in the second set it was anybody’s set,” Evert said. "She pressured me a lot She’s awfully tough.” Evert won a battle at the net to hold for 6-5 and in the next game, McNeil fell behind on a double fault and then hit a drop shot wide at match point for the top seed.